Seattle Salsa Congress (November 28-30 2008)

Months of salsa training culminated to this: My First Salsa Congress

What's a salsa congress you might ask? Well, it's not as political as it sounds. Its more of a gathering for those interested in salsa dance. At a congress you get the opportunity to see some of the best salsa dancers and instructors in the country. They give several performances during the "Congressional Session". One also gets to attend workshops/classes (by several of these professionals) and learn things like new and cool salsa combinations, musicality, or the history of salsa. And the Friday/Saturday nights culminates with social dancing until the wee hours of the morning.

Dana, Christian And The Aussies

A cool thing about this Congress is that my salsa teachers (Dana & Christian--the best salseros!) organized a Tri-Cities crew to head over. About seven of us made it for the Congress and then another two joined up for the social dancing on Saturday. It was so cool to check out the Congress with the homies. ;)

One good thing about this particular Congress: it's right after Turkey Day!! So, you can wake up bright and early on Friday morning, get your salsa on, and work off that cranberry sauce! I'm not joking Friday and Saturday were very long days of salsa. I paced myself, and did Friday for about a half day, and then headed back up to hang with Tee & Asia (we then met up with the Sirois' at Pyramid and then the Tap Room--very cool).

Asia, Two Siksikas, A Colville, And A Cree At Pyramid Ale House

Saturday was the big day for me. I went for a the full day. This was class from about 9am till about 7pm. Then the performance at 9pm, and then social dancing (via DJs) until the wee hours of the morning.

Christian and Priscilla

As for the instructors, there were some good ones and so-so ones. I'll just mention my favorites. The Spaniards, Antonio & Vanesa, were awesome. Antonio's english was a little rough, but he's a good dancer. I liked how he showed a move from the combo, and would then scream out, "is that ok?! C'mon, say something? Ok?!?". Anyway, I ended up taking two classes from them, and they showed some ok footwork, and some really awesome combos.

Antonio & Vanesa's 2nd Combo

The other big instructor was Alex Da Silva. He's taught many music and movie stars and has acted as choreographer on several reality shows. He and his partner (whose name escapes me), were very funny and did some awesome combos which were fun and sexy. He had big crowds for both of his classes.

Alex Da Salva's 2nd Combo

After the two days of intense salsa-ness, I actually could see myself beginning to get this stuff. I've had the best instruction from Christian and Dana, and everything they taught plus the Congress and then the social dancing just all came together nicely. I can finally see myself transitioning froma clueless novice to an actual "salsa person"-- very cool. I just need to keep it up!!

Filming The Moves!